1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to security monitoring systems and, more particularly, to a security monitoring system in which image data captured upon the occurrence of an alarm is transmitted to a remote location along with image data of authorized individuals for comparison by personnel at the remote location.
2. Prior Art
Security monitoring systems of the prior art, particularly residential security systems, typically utilize a box that monitors contact sensors for doors and windows and one or more infra-red sensors for area monitoring. When a contact is triggered or an infra-red sensor triggers, an alarm is sounded and a signal is sent via a data link such as a phone line to a central monitoring site. The central monitoring site typically initiates a set of phone calls, to the homeowner, to work, and/or to a designated neighbor to determine if the alarm signal was due to an unauthorized intruder or just to an accidental triggering by a family member or other authorized occupant of the structure.
If the alarm signal cannot be resolved by the phone calls, it is passed to the local police department. According to the International Association of Police Chiefs (www.theiacp.org), 94 to 98% of the calls passed to the police department turn out to be xe2x80x9cfalse alarmsxe2x80x9d in the sense that they were not due to an unauthorized intruder, and alarm calls are responsible for 10 to 30% of all calls to the police.
Significant portions (over 70%) of xe2x80x9cfalse alarmsxe2x80x9d are caused by what is referred to as exit/entrance conflicts. For instance, in the situation of a residential alarm system, the homeowner or other authorized occupant of a residence often arms the security system while leaving the residence and shortly thereafter realizes that they have forgotten something in the residence. As they return to the residence, they enter without disarming the system thereby causing an alarm to be sounded and/or an alarm signal to be sent to a central monitoring site, or in attempting to disarm the system in a hurry enter the wrong code with the same result. Similarly, the homeowner may arm the security system and remain inside the residence, such as during the night and may thereafter leave to get something outside the residence, e.g., the morning paper, thereby triggering a false alarm.
In view of the prior art, there is a need for a security monitoring system, which resolves these and other types of entry/exit conflicts.
Therefore it is an object of the present invention to provide a security monitoring system which reduces the number of false alarms inherent in the prior art security monitoring systems.
Accordingly, a security monitoring system is provided. The security monitoring system comprises: an alarm system having means for detecting an unauthorized individual in a structure; at least one camera for capturing first image data of the unauthorized individual; a memory for storing second image data of at least one individual authorized to be in the structure; and transmitting means for transmitting third image data to a remote location upon the detection of the unauthorized individual, the third image data comprising at least portions of the first and second image data for comparison at the remote location. The system can further comprise means for compressing the third image data prior to transmission to the remote location.
In a preferred implementation of the security monitoring system of the present invention, the at least one camera also captures the second image data to be stored in the memory. Means is preferably provided for commanding the at least one camera to capture the second image data. Preferably, the means for commanding the at least one camera to capture the second image data comprises entering a unique key sequence on a keypad associated with the alarm system.
In yet another preferred implementation of the security monitoring system of the present invention, the first image data comprises image data of more than the face of the unauthorized individual and the system further comprises a computer vision system for detecting the face of the unauthorized individual from the first image data. In such an implementation, the second image data comprises face image data of the authorized individual and the third image data comprises a comparison of face image data of the unauthorized and authorized individuals.
Preferably, the third image data is composed in a picture comprising a frame from the video image data arranged in a first portion and the still image data of the at least one individual authorized to be in the structure arranged in a second portion. More preferably, the first portion comprises a top portion of the picture and the second portion comprises a row of the still image data for each of the at least one individuals authorized to be in the structure arranged along a bottom portion of the picture.
Also provided are methods for security monitoring of a structure having the security monitoring system of the present invention.